Σελίδες

Δευτέρα, 29 Δεκεμβρίου 2008

Egypt’s main Islamist party and other opposition groups are strengthening their appeal by using images of desperate Palestinians streaming out of the Gaza Strip to provoke wider protests against President Hosni Mubarak’s 26-year-old government.Demonstrations in Cairo and throughout the country by the Muslim Brotherhood and other political groups ostensibly have been staged to declare Egyptian solidarity with the residents of Gaza. But they are also aimed at weakening Mubarak, whom the groups accuse of oppression and criticize for economic shortcomings and close ties to Washington.

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The sights of death and destruction in the besieged Gaza Strip struck close to the hearts of many Egyptians, especially with their government being accused of complicity in the latest Israeli crime. "Arab governments are complicit in what happens to the Palestinians," Ashraf Abdel Monem, who workers at a pharmaceuticals company, told IslamOnline.net. "These governments help Israel tighten its grip on the dispossessed Palestinians and kill them." At least 206 people have been killed and hundreds wounded in a series of Israeli air strikes against targets in Gaza Strip. The Palestinian resistance responded with rocket salvoes that killed one Israeli and wounded several others. But the images of Palestinians lying on the ground in the aftermath of the raids while blood was dispersed everywhere sent shockwaves in Egypt, a country that has officially signed a peace treaty with Israel almost 30 years ago, but continues to consider its northeastern neighbor an enemy on the public level. Abdel Monem joined several thousands of Egyptians, including opposition activists and MPS, who gathered outside the Journalists’ Syndicate in downtown Cairo to protest the latest Israeli crime. Many accused President Hosni Mubarak's regime of taking a spectator’s position while the blood of the Palestinians continues to be shed in the Gaza Strip. "Mubarak and (Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi) Livni have agreed on the genocide of the Palestinian people," read one banner. "Mubarak is an accomplice in attacks against the Palestinian people," read another. Livni met with Mubarak in Cairo on Thursday and said Israel would strike the Gaza Strip. The Egyptian regime has been criticized for closing down Rafah crossing, Gaza's only window to the outside world. In a rare occurrence, Mohamed Mahdi Akef, the supreme leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's biggest opposition force, urged Arab governments to take action to stop "Zionist criminals of Israel." "Egypt should stop to welcome the Israelis here," Akef said. "It’s not logical that the Israelis kill our brothers and sisters in Palestine and we throw the red carpet for them here," he told IOL. Egypt condemned the Israeli onslaught, opening its Rafah border crossing to allow the wounded through for treatment. "We call for an immediate end to Israeli military operations. We cannot allow these attacks to continue," Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said on state television."We cannot permit the murder of Palestinians."Countering criticism that Egypt might have told Hamas Israel was not about to launch an attack, Abul Gheit said "Israel told the international community and its officials told the whole world of their intentions." Egypt summoned Israeli Ambassador Shalom Cohen to demand an end to the bombardment. Earlier, President Mubarak condemned "the Israeli military aggression on the Gaza Strip and blames Israel, as an occupying force, for the victims and the wounded." The MPs who took part in the protest said they will call for a special parliament session on the Israeli attacks. "We will continue to put pressure on Arab governments as well as the criminals of Israel until Palestine is free," said Abdel Monem Abul Fotouh, a member of the Doctors Union

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry is protesting demonstrations held in Syria over Egypt's role in the blockade of the Gaza Strip. The state-owned Middle East News Agency says Deputy Foreign Minister Abdel-Rahman Salah expressed concern about the demonstrations to the Syrian ambassador after summoning him to the ministry Tuesday. The agency quotes Salah as describing the protesters as mobs. Thousands of protesters, mostly Palestinian refugees, took part in demonstrations this week in Damascus demanding the closure be reversed. Israel and Egypt imposed a blockade on Gaza after the Islamic militant group Hamas seized power last year, ousting the forces of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

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Turkey cancels New Year party in Taksim Square over Israeli attacks"The New Year celebrations program organized by Istanbul municipality in Taksim Square on December 31, 2008 has been cancelled due to the latest developments in our region," the statement said. "The New Year celebrations program scheduled for Dec. 31 has been canceled because of the latest developments in our region," the municipality said in a statement.Israel unleashed on Saturday a massive air campaign against Hamas targets in retaliation for ongoing rocket fire from its Gaza Strip stronghold, one of the most densely populated places on earth.At least 51 civilians are among the victims of the Israeli blitz on Hamas-run Gaza Strip that has so far killed more than 310 people, the U.N. said.

Σάββατο, 27 Δεκεμβρίου 2008

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=79544&sectionid=351020101Iran is preparing to send an aid ship to the Gaza Strip on Saturday in the wake of the Israeli-imposed blockade, the Iranian Red Crescent says. "The ship will carry medicine and foodstuffs including rice, flour, sugar as well as six tons of medicine for the impoverished population of Gaza," said Hamed Taheri Jebelli spokesman of Iran's Red Crescent Society (IRCS) on Thursday. Jebelli noted that a medical team and a group of reporters will travel to the coastal area on board the ship. Al-Alam Satellite TV aired video of the ship as well as trucks loaded with aid. Tel Aviv has imposed a siege on the tiny coastal region ever since the democratically-elected Palestinian government, Hamas, took control of the coastal area in mid-June 2007. Palestinians had voted overwhelmingly in favor of the Islamic movement in the 2006 parliamentary elections. The Islamic movement does not recognize Israel as a legitimate state. The Israeli siege has inflicted a humanitarian crisis in the already impoverished Strip, turning it to an 'open prison' and putting lives of almost 1.5 million residents at stake. Gaza residents are suffering from the shortage of basic supplies including food and medicine. The UN Human Rights Council has declared Israeli policies against the Palestinians and the blockade of the Gaza Strip to be "crime(s) against humanity." The UN has so far passed some 65 resolutions in condemnation of Israeli actions against Palestinians. However, the veto powers, particularly the US, have stonewalled the resolutions on at least 42 occasions. Earlier, IRCS had announced that it would deliver 100'000 dollars worth of emergency aid to the Gaza strip.

Scores dead in Israeli raid on GazaAt least 195 Palestinians, including women and children, have been killed in an Israeli aerial bombardment on Hamas security installations.Israel launched air attacks across the besieged Gaza Strip on Saturday, threatening that further operations would be carried out. Emergency services said that at least 300 people had been wounded.Witnesses reported heavy damage as at least 30 missiles were fired. Ehud Barak, the Israeli defence minister, said that the operation would not be short. "The operation will go on and be intensified as long as necessary," he said on Saturday. An Israeli military spokesman added that any "Hamas target is a target". As dusk fell, Israel continued to bomb the strip, firing on a metal foundry in the south.Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian prime minister, condemned the attack and demanded an immediate cessation. Hours after the Israeli assault, Gaza fighters fired home-made rockets into southern Israel, heeding calls by Hamas and other affiliated Palestinian groups to avenge the attacks, unprecedented in their scale. One Israeli was killed in the rocket fire, medics said. Taher al-Noono, a Hamas spokesman, described Israel's operation as a "massacre", adding: "However, our resolve cannot be dented and cannot be shaken. We will continue our struggle with absolute strength and steadfastness." Islam Shahwan, a Hamas police spokesman, said a police graduation ceremony in Gaza City was struck by Israel. Among those killed was Tawfiq Jabber, the Gaza chief of police. The Hamas-run interior ministry said all security compounds in the Strip had been destroyed. Gaza is densely populated. Its 1.5 million residents area already experiencing shortages in medicine, power and basic supplies due to 18 months of an Israeli blockade. 'War crimes' Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president and leader of Fatah, condemned the "aggression" in Gaza. We will defend our people, we will retaliate against this aggression ... our military will retaliate." orzouz called on the world's most powerful nations to condemn the attacks: "Nobody in this world can accept what happened and the Israeli aggression ... [we expect] the international community to stand against this and say that it is not acceptable." Mustafa Barghouthi, the former Palestinian information minister, said: "This is not an attack on the Hamas. It is an attack on the whole population and the free will of the people of Gaza." He accused Israel of committing "war crimes" and demanded that Abbas and his government stop all relations with Israel. 'Only just beginning'The Israel army released a statement saying "terrorist installations" were hit and that all Israeli pilots returned unharmed. he operation against the Hamas is "only just beginning," Avi Benayahu, an Israeli military spokesman said. he air raids follow the decision by the Israeli security cabinet to increase reprisals for cross-border rocket attacks against Israel, and the breakdown of a six-month-old Israel-Hamas truce earlier this month. The ceasefire expired on December 19, with Hamas arguing that Israel had violated the truce by preventing vital food and medical supplies into the Strip. Ayman

The Pentagon has announced that the US would withdraw troops from Iraq to reinforce Afghanistan sending one brigade soon after the New Year and another three in spring 2009. This has the approval of President Elect Barack Obama. It is believed that the objective is a 'surge’ in Afghanistan on the lines General Petreus had in Iraq. But President Hamid Karazai would like the additional troops to supplement the clandestine operations by RAW (India’a CIA) on Pakistan’s border. It now appears that President Zardari of Pakistan is just as eager for India and America to shift focus to his country. His reason: he wants the ISI and the Army to be tamed. It seems that Pakistan has the reincarnation of the Sheikh Mujib as a leader. And it was Mujibs’s treachery that precipitated the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war and Pakistan’s defeat.The grim anniversary of the fall of Dhaka on 16 December 1971 is commemorated every year in Pakistan but this year it had more poignancy than ever before. Pakistan appears to be living through similar trauma all over again. The war clouds gather after 'free and fair’ elections. In 1971, an indicted RAW Agent – Sheikh Mujib – secured the most seats in Pakistan’s parliament. Despite having contested the elections on the basis of Six Points that sought to make Pakistan a confederation, President Yahya Khan decided to honour the verdict of the people. He met Sheikh Mujib in Dhaka and asked him to assume the office of the Prime Minister. Sheikh Mujib accepted the offer and the press were briefed accordingly. Three days later, he informed the President that he had to decline the offer under pressure from his party colleagues. Now we know (from the chapter written by Dr Mu’min Chowdhury of Bangladesh in 'Authentic Voices of South Asia’) why? Sheikh Mujib had asked for confirmation directly from India Prime Minster Indira Gandhi that India would invade East Pakistan if he made UDI – Unilateral Declaration of Independence. When he met President Yahya Khan, that confirmation had not been received. When he got the confirmation he declined the offer to become the Prime Minister and preferred to become a prisoner instead. That shows the dilemma of traitors. Once Sheikh Mujib agreed to work for RAW, he was a pawn; he had to do the bidding of his agent handlers. A maverick like him was more valuable in a Pakistani jail to give substance to the propaganda that Pakistanis would never transfer power to a Bengali as Prime Minister. The fact that most of the Prime Ministers of united Pakistan belonged to East Pakistan did not matter. Propaganda is more credible than the truth in the hands of the disciples of Kautaliya.Pakistan had another elections on 18 February 2008 in the wake of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. No one was surprised that her party won the most seats; sympathy vote was very substantial. But there had been disquiet over Asif Ali Zardari – her husband with dubious record who has been known as 'Mr Ten Percent’ – assuming the leadership of her party on the basis of a 'will’, which remains shrouded in secrecy. But the bold forthrightness showed by him in controlling the outrage on Benazir’s assassination and the riots, arson and plunder in Sindh that followed, he built a broad constituency of trust in himself. Everybody in Pakistan was pleasantly surprised when he set up a broad based coalition government with his archrival – Nawaz Sharif. He outmanoeuvred Pervez Musharraf and displayed impressive political skill in getting him to resign. However, his support has waned very fast because he went back on written undertaking to reinstate the Chief Justice Musharraf had removed. He is the victim of the Sheikh Mujib syndrome. Mujib could be prime minister of Pakistan but he chose to be a prisoner. He did become the President of Bangladesh only to be assassinated by his own soldiers who saw the truth – he was an Indian agent. Asif Zardari must be pinching himself every morning wondering if he was the President of Pakistan. But agent handlers are not known to be kind and merciful; their business is blackmail; they keep their agents on a tight leash. They want Asif Ali Zardari to deliver; the time is running out fast.For some more time a debate will continue whether Asif Zardari is an Indian agent or not but the penny has dropped with the vote in the UN Sanctions Committee that declared some of the Pakistani NGOs to be the supporters of the Taliban or Al-Qaeda. It has now come out that he did ask the Pakistan’s representatives at the UN to get the 'terrorist’ label put on some very respected names among Islamic NGOs. It has also come out that he did not consult Pakistan’s Foreign Office or use the diplomatic channels. He acted through co-conspirators – Hussain Haqqani and Hussain Haroon - Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US and the UN respectively. He has thus given a handle to India and America to interfere in the internal affairs of Pakistan. The USA and India would want progress reports and mobilise international support to condemn and isolate Pakistan as a 'terrorist’ state and a 'failed state’ to make the country an international pariah.Asif Zardari (AZ) may be naive but he is no fool. He has help from India and the US to focus the ire of the international community on the ISI and the armed forces of Pakistan. America wants 'full spectrum dominance’ over the world and Zardari (and co-conspirators) are telling them that the only institutions that stand in their way in South Asia are Pakistan’s intelligence and the armed forces. India and America are already working with him to make the armed power of the state of Pakistan to be directed against the Afghan and Kashmiri resistance. If they find the military leadership un-cooperative, AZ would turn on them. AZ tell his party that he seeks to end the military defying him on the pretext of 'professional advice’ not because of Indian or American pressure, not because of lack of sympathy for the Kashmiri liberation struggle, but to establish the primacy of politicians for all times to come.AZ wants to establish 'full spectrum domination’ of his party over all the institutions of the state of Pakistan with the help of India and America under the cover of 'war on terror’. He has already got his way over all the political parties, the judiciary and the civil service; the only resistance comes indirectly from those fighting the occupation in Kashmir and Afghanistan. India, America and Asif Zardari have a meeting of minds. They all see the resistance (in Afghanistan and Kashmir) as the enemy. If they could get the armed forces of Pakistan to fight the resistance in Kashmir and Afghanistan , both the challengers to 'full spectrum domination’ (of America over the world and of AZ over Pakistan) would be mortally wounded in fighting each other. AZ hopes that the armed forces would have so little public adulation and support that they would never stand in the way of the political class whatever its wills, wants or does.It appears that the narrative for AZ war against the ISI and the armed forces of Pakistan is being written by Hussain Haqqani with the help of his former colleagues in US think tanks. Haqqani is the author of 'Military and the Mosque’. In that book he identifies both the Mosque and the Military as the scourge that destabilise the region and the world, meaning that they pose a challenge to Indo-US hegemony. He earned a professorship in the USA for that thesis and ambassadorship to the USA from AZ for the same. No wonder that the new direction of foreign policy in Pakistan has the signature of Hussain Haqqani all over. He is not hopeful that the military would take on the mosque; in his narrative of AZ’s war, Haqqani depends on India and America against the military and the mosque. Not since the Communist engineered the defeat of the Czarist Army in order to bring about the Bolshevik Revolution, has a national political party sought to engineer the defeat of its national army. But the Communist Party was not in power at that time. The AZ led PPP would be the first ruling political party any where in the world ever that enlisted the support of the enemy to weaken the foundation of its armed power – its nuclear deterrent as well as its intelligence and the armed forces.All this would fit nicely into the scheme of President Elect Obama’a guru – Professor Brzezinski. He would love a war between the Armed Forces of Pakistan supporting secular-liberal parties (the PPP, ANP and MQM) against Resistance to Indo-US occupation of Afghanistan and Kashmir. That, in his view, would be a 'good war’ that could yield a victory to the US at very little cost. The US 'old guard’ and India want Zardari to use his armed forces relentlessly and ruthlessly to crush the 'resistance’ in Afghanistan and Kashmir. AZ has already called the Kashmiri Mujahideen 'terrorists’ in his Wall Street Journal interview. Now India and the USA want him to put his money where his mouth is and crush the Kashmiri and Afghan resistance. The Americans say they are already 'helping’ with Predator attacks. But the attacks have been approved by President Zardari in defiance of the parliament, which forbids such attacks. Now India also wants to 'help’ him by air assault on the 'common enemy’. If the armed forces do not play ball, they would be the enemy as well. That is the position of India and Hussain Haqqani – the mullahs and the military are both the enemy. The Americans are less sure. They would like to give General Kiani more time. They tell him he has no other choice except to use Pakistani military to crush the 'resistance’. The threat is barely veiled: otherwise they will crush the Pakistan’s armed power.Even if the Army half-heartedly submitted to Indo-US threats, as it appears to be doing now, a civil war - like that in Algeria – in which the Army is fighting the majority, would quickly spread. That, the Americans hope, would create conditions for them to 'lift’ the nuclear weapons of Pakistan to the US for 'safe custody’. To preclude the Army saying 'no’ to sustaining a civil war, the USA would like Asif Zardari to maintain a majority in the parliament by hook or crook. The lack of principles and ineptitude of the political class delivers that very easily. That is why Professor Brzezinski is convinced that Pakistan is the best place for making an 'internecine war’ appear to be a 'good war’. The Americans are pulling out of Iraq because no one supports American presence in that country. Those who do keep quiet otherwise they would be killed for being collaborators. The American stay in Afghanistan would not be too long because no Afghan would ever support Americans presence in Afghanistan. But in Pakistan, the ruling party is inviting not just America but also India to come and punish the country for supporting the Kashmiri and Afghan resistance. Kashmiris have suffered the longest occupation. Neither India nor America justifies occupation of Palestine, Iraq or Afghanistan. Yet, both of them regularly succeed in getting Kashmiri resistance to be declared illegitimate. That is because collaborators and traitors do not killed; they get crowned in Pakistan.Pakistanis/Bangladeshis were deceived into electing a traitor as their leader in 1971. It was a few young Bangladeshi officers who killed him and brought his farcical presidency to an end in August 1975. Once again we have an Indian/American agent sitting in the President’s House. The anger in Pakistan is palpable. What happens next is anybody’s guess. The Pakistan Army is under great pressure to engage in operation against Afghan and Kashmiri resistance. If it submitted or even half submitted to that pressure, the war would be fought on the soil of Pakistan. As a nation we must persevere is asserting that resistance is legitimate occupation is not. We are proud and we must show pride in our stand against occupation everywhere in the world. The USA has already recognised the bankruptcy of its position and is withdrawing from Iraq and Afghanistan. The Indian position in Kashmir is even weaker but it is sustained in it obduracy by collaborators in our ranks who we put in position of leadership. Yet, I am hopeful that India will give us a chance to liberate Jammu and Kashmir sooner than any one expected or imagined.The writer is Director of London Institute of South Asia.

Παρασκευή, 26 Δεκεμβρίου 2008

Hamas fires military-grade rockets into Israel- GAZA, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) -- Gaza ruler Hamas fired longer-range rockets into Israel on Wednesday amid continuous makeshift rockets attacks, escalating violence around the besieged Gaza Strip. Hamas confirmed that its militants have fired Grads (military-grade rockets) from northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday morning in response to the killing of five of its militants. The two Soviet-made Grads landed near a factory and a parking lot in the Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon respectively, causing damage to several cars, according to Israeli sources. In the meantime, tens of rockets launched by armed Palestinian groups, mainly Hamas and the less influential Islamic Jihad, have been landing in Israeli border towns. Late Tuesday, Israel killed three Hamas militants after spotting them planting explosives near the security fence that separates Israel and northern Gaza Strip. Israeli radio reported that 60 rockets and mortar shells have hit Israel since Wednesday morning, adding that two residents were treated for shock. Meanwhile, a Palestinian civilian was seriously injured when an Israeli missile hit the front of his house in northern Gaza city, witnesses and medical sources. Emad al-Drimley, a Gaza journalist, said his family were waken up at 4 a.m. local time (0200 GMT) by the sound of a big blast that hit their house. "My brother Eyad, 37, was seriously wounded by shrapnel," Emad said. Neighbors of Emad said the Israeli missile hit his house moments after militants fired rockets into Israel from nearby. The latest violence is the bloodiest since a six-month ceasefire between Hamas, which controls Gaza Strip, and Israel expired. Israel and the Palestinian militants have violated the Egypt-brokered ceasefire since early November, with Israel launching military operations into Gaza, triggering Palestinian rocket attacks in response. Israel also restored tight restrictions on Gaza commercial crossings in a bid to deter the Palestinian rocket fire. Palestinian officials said Israel will not open Kerem Shalom and Karni crossings on Wednesday to allow aid convoys into Gaza. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordered the crossings to remain close in response to the rockets.

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Medvedev says Russia-Ukraine relations at their lowest level. MOSCOW, December 24 (RIA Novosti) - President Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday relations between Russia and Ukraine had plunged to their lowest level in recent years. "As to relations in general, I have to say again that unfortunately they have never been as low as they are now. This is extremely regrettable," Medvedev said in an interview with leading Russian television channels, blaming Kiev for the crisis. Medvedev reiterated accusations against Kiev of supplying weapons to Georgia and sending its troops to fight against Russian forces. "This is a crime against Russian-Ukrainian relations, nothing else," he said. A Ukrainian parliamentary commission led by an opposition lawmaker said in early December that President Viktor Yushchenko had sanctioned arms deliveries to Georgia during and after the Caucasus state's war with Russia in August. The Ukrainian leadership has dismissed the commission's findings. Other irritants in relations between the two former Soviet states include energy supplies and the drive by Ukraine's pro-Western leaders to join NATO. The two countries are currently involved in a fresh gas dispute with Moscow demanding Kiev pay its $2 billion debt in full before the year end and threatening to cut off supplies.

The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe should agree new terms with South Ossetia if it wants to continue working there, says Russia's Foreign Ministry. Moscow has vetoed the expansion of the organisation's current mandate which expires in a week. The OSCE says it's disappointed at Russia's decision, but Moscow insists there needs to be a recognition of what it calls ‘the new realities’.Drawn up in the early 1990s, the current mandate of the OSCE's mission to Georgia is due to expire on December 31. Russia believes that given the current situation its legal basis should be changed. “The agreements on which the current mandate is based have been practically ripped apart with Georgia's attack on South Ossetia. They also have no legal power after Tbilisi officially dropped out of them,” Sergey Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister, said recently. Lavrov's comments came after Russia blocked the OSCE's attempts to extend the mandate of its mission to Georgia for three more months. Moscow says South Ossetia and Abkhazia are now independent republics and should be dealt with separately. Most countries were for extending the mandate but Russia blocked it. Under the rules of the organisation only unanimous decisions are taken. Georgia strongly opposes Russia’s stance: “We believe that it is a deliberate move by Russia in order to diminish - and preferably eliminate - any international presence here in Georgia in terms of conflict resolution,” stated Aleksandr Nalbandov, Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister. The Head of the OSCE mission to Georgia Terhi Hakala says that talks will continue. The OSCE’s mission to Georgia has been operating since 1992, when Georgia used force to regain control of South Ossetia for the first time since the break-up of the USSR. It's made up of local and foreign staff and includes unarmed military monitors. Its work also involves monitoring human rights and economic and environmental issues as well as media freedom. One of the tasks of the OSCE is to prevent and resolve conflicts in Europe, but August's conflict in South Ossetia proved it can be ineffective. Ryan Grist, a former senior OSCE official, says escalation of the conflict prior to August’s events was known about: “There was some shelling of Tskhinvali a few weeks prior to the August events. So I think at all levels in the OSCE, people were very worried about what could happen in the summer. As I say, this shelling a few weeks prior to the August events was a severe escalation and was brought to the attention of everybody in the OSCE,” said Grist.Apart from the OSCE mission, there are currently observers from the European Union, who are also monitoring the ceasefire and will remain in the region. The OSCE chairman hopes negotiations on future activities in Georgia and South Ossetia will continue next year. Experts say that it may take several months for the OSCE's mission in Georgia to wrap up after its mandate expires. According to the Russian foreign minister, a draft of the new mandate has been agreed on with South Ossetia and is already at the OSCE.

Τρίτη, 23 Δεκεμβρίου 2008

Thousands of trade unionists have taken to the streets in Ukraine to protest against cuts in wages and benefits and to demand action to ease the country’s economic crisis. The demonstrators marched through Kiev calling for social justice, and called for an end to food price rises. Ukraine has been hard hit by the global financial crisis, and its currency has plummeted in value. The protestors came from across the country. They warned that if their demands were not met by February, they would strike to force the government to do its job or resign. Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has said several times that she will not cut benefits. However, with industrial production in severe decline and unemployment expected to double in the coming months, she faces a daunting winter of discontent.

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President Yushchenko planning state of emergency -KIEV, December 24 (RIA Novosti) - Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko plans to declare a state of emergency in the country and cancel all elections, the country's prime minister said on Wednesday. "The president's aim is not only to benefit at the cost of Ukraine's grief and with the backing of his supporters, but to also declare the country bankrupt, to make the country's economy absolutely unworkable and to use this base to continue his bungling rule and to introduce a state of emergency and cancel elections...," Yulia Tymoshenko said. "I want to stop this process," she added. Tymoshenko also urged the president, who she said had completely lost the esteem of a head of state, to volunteer to resign. "If he [Yushchenko] has retained a grain of conscience, he must resign," the prime minister told the press.

KABUL (Reuters) - The Taliban's supreme leader rejected on Tuesday reports he had sent a letter to the Saudi king involving a formula for ending the war in Afghanistan and conditions for talks with the Afghan government. Mullah Mohammad Omar, who carries a bounty of $10 million by the United States for his capture, also denied reports saying members of the Taliban's resurgent movement had held talks with pro-Afghan government officials on ending the conflict. "The fact is that the Islamic Emirates has neither held any negotiations in Saudi Arabia or in the United Arab Emirates and neither anywhere else," the Taliban's Website quoted Omar as saying in a statement. "I neither have sent any letter addressed to Saudi... King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz, or to the opposite side (Afghan government) and neither have (I) received any message from them." The statement added that whatever was being said on this issue was false and part of a propaganda campaign by vested interests. An Iranian press report had initially said Omar had sent a peace formula to the Saudi king. Other media also spoke about a formula, which included the replacement of tens of thousands of NATO-led troops in Afghanistan by soldiers from Islamic nations, and power sharing with President Hamid Karzai, who has been leading the Afghanistan government since the Taliban's removal in 2001. In the statement, Omar did not repeat the Taliban's past line that the Islamist movement would fight to the last to expel NATO-led troops from Afghanistan, nor mention under what terms the Taliban might engage in talks. A tentative first step toward talks was taken in September when pro-government Afghan officials and former Taliban members met in Saudi Arabia. A second round was expected too. Then the Taliban derided the talks and said they would not enter negotiations as long as foreign troops remained in Afghanistan. Nevertheless, the September meeting offered a glimmer of hope of ending an intensifying Taliban insurgency that has raised fears for Afghanistan's prospects and Western efforts to establish peace and build a stable state. With the spread of the Taliban insurgency more than seven years since their overthrow, and no sight of an end to the conflict, the possibility of talks with the insurgents, or at least some elements, is being considered by Karzai's government and Western allies. They hope to draw moderate Taliban, or perhaps opportunistic commanders, into talks to isolate al Qaeda and its hardline supporters, analysts say. Violence this year in Afghanistan has been the bloodiest since the Taliban's ouster. About 70,000 foreign troops, 32,000 of them American, are struggling against the Taliban, whose influence and attacks are spreading in the south, east and west.

Παρασκευή, 19 Δεκεμβρίου 2008

The world opened its wallet for Bill Clinton. Governments, corporations and billionaires with their own interests in U.S. foreign policy gave the former president's charity millions of dollars, according to records he released Thursday to lay bare any financial entanglements that could affect his wife Hillary Rodham Clinton as the next secretary of state.Saudi Arabia, Norway and other foreign governments gave at least $46 million, and donors with ties to India delivered millions more. Corporate donors included the Blackwater security firm, at risk of losing its lucrative government contract to protect U.S. diplomats in Iraq, and Web company Yahoo, involved in disputes over surrendering Internet information to Chinese authorities that led to the imprisonment of dissidents there. Other high-profile Clinton donors don't suggest inevitable collisions between U.S. policies and their giving. Celebrities Barbra Streisand, Steven Spielberg, Paul Newman, Carly Simon and Chevy Chase all gave. Sports figures included New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, Formula One driver Michael Schumacher and owners of the Indiana Pacers basketball team. ..>>>

HURRIYET Instanbul- During the 1970s it was common to hear news on the radio about a group of anarchists being arrested. Those anarchists, however, were not like today’s anarchists in Greece or other places in the world. They were mainly communists, university students and the word anarchist was not used because of its ideological meaning, but merely to mark their opposition to the existing social order. Anarchism was a long way from defending itself as a political stance for the highly politicized youth of the 70s. Today, however, supporting their anarchist brothers and sisters in Greece, anarchism has started to rise in Turkey as an ideology. There are several anarchist groups in Turkey, such as Istanbul Ahali, meaning mass or community, which is one of the most widespread anarchist organizations with branches in Ankara, Eskişehir, İzmit and Mersin. Accelerating after the 1990s, the anarchist movement made a name for itself with the military conscientious objection movement. In 2000, the invasion of Iraq and the anti-war movement was another point at which anarchists came forward in Turkey. They strove to tell society the right way to progress without becoming marginalized or falling into the trap of existing clichŽs. The ecology and anti-nuclear movements are also political arenas featuring anarchists.Members of Ahali agreed to talk to the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review on the condition that only their first names are used."It is difficult to be an anarchist. You should not become marginalized, you should keep in contact with people and tell them who you are. In your daily life you should watch and intervene in any power dynamics," said Serkan, a 30-year-old anarchist from Istanbul Ahali, who works as a receptionist in a hostel.People who live a nihilist life and call themselves an anarchist make it difficult for true anarchists, he said. Some people who are merely against one thing call themselves anarchists, said Gürşat, a 28-year-old.One of the most striking protests by the Istanbul Ahali was against increases in the price of natural gas. "We went to İstiklal Street, lit a stove and burned natural gas bills with banners that read ’Whoa!’" said Berk, a 19-year-old university student. "It was not us, but elderly men and women who talked to the press during the protest. Confronting power teaches anarchyThey owned the protest and burned their natural gas bills as well," Serkan said. Another issue Ahali works on is strengthening rights for grinded-jeans workers who have contracted Silicosis, a fatal lung disease. Founding the kottaslama.org Web site to show solidarity with the workers, Ahali calls on people to boycott wearing grinded jeans.Almost every member of the group had a specific moment in their life where they confronted power, which led them to become an anarchist. "When we were in high school, three of us shaved our heads. The school director called for us and asked whether we were anarchists and what we were against," Serdar, a 23-year-old university student, said when asked how he became an anarchist.Berk said he became an anarchist because of his critical views of power relations within leftist parties and his experiences as a member of one.Supporting the protests in GreeceAhali is following the protests in Greece closely. When asked why people in Turkey did not react to police killings and what the difference was between Turkey and Greece on this issue, the anarchists said a rebellion culture and the ongoing conflict in southeastern Anatolia meant people had become desensitized to violence. The anarchist spirit in Greece is much more organized and rooted, said Özgür, a 22-year-old university student. The anarchists said the anarchist communes in Greece were widespread and had organized their daily lives in a way to create spaces that were free of state rule and power. ..

Giannis Kefalogiannis - Ex minister , one of the Oldest parliamentary politicians of the ΝΔ conservative party and close advisor of Mr Karamanlis, was sentenced to 5 mοnths in prison because had asked from a policemen to set free a drug dealer, in exchange for the appointment of his wife in a public service post and a favorable treatment for him within the police force ...

a platoon of MAT (antiriot forces) near Panepistimiou Avenue with no tension, they ( the Police) took their helmets off and started shouting to the students, at hooligans pace: «Where is Alexis Oe Oe Oe» ( Alexis Grigoropoulos) !!!!!!!!!!!!

Barack Obama has said he aims to close the Guantanamo Baydetention centre and put a clear end to torture in the US within two (2) years(well.. that a long time .. thinking about it ..!!) of becoming president. The president-elect told Time magazine he aims to restore the balance between US security needs and the Constitution. Outgoing Vice-president Dick Cheney has said he does not see how the Guantanamo facility can be responsibly closed until the "war on terror" was over. He also justified using water-boarding on some detainees during interrogation. He said the technique, which simulates drowning, was an appropriate means of getting information out of suspects such as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the 11 September attacks on the US.'Clear end to torture'US President-elect Obama was speaking to Time having been named its Person of the Year for having what the magazine called "the confidence to sketch an ambitious future in a gloomy hour". Asked how voters would know whether his administration was succeeding in two years, Mr Obama listed a series of benchmarks his team had set during his presidential campaign. "On foreign policy, have we closed down Guantanamo in a responsible way, put a clear end to torture and restored a balance between the demands of our security and our constitution?" he said.

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution has warned the Muslim community against a plot to cause a sectarian rift among Sunnis and Shias. Speaking on the Shia-celebrated Eid al-Ghadir, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said the enemy views Muslim unity and the growing interest of Muslim nations in the Islamic Revolution as a threat and therefore makes every effort to foment discord among Shias and Sunnis. Eid al-Ghadir marks the anniversary of the Prophet Muhammad's (PBUH) last sermon, during which he appointed Ali ibn Abi Talib (PBUH), the first Shia Imam, as his successor. Sunni Muslims do not deny the sermon having taken place; they, however, do not celebrate the day and regard Ali (PBUH) as the fourth and last of the caliphs (successors to the prophet) and not an Imam. Addressing Iranians, the majority of whom are Shia, Ayatollah Khamenei said the enemy has been spending large sums on various schemes to pit Sunni and Shia against one another. "We have intelligence that an institution supported by the global arrogance funds the publication of certain books which insult the beliefs of Sunnis or Shias," the Leader added. Ayatollah Khamenei said the publication of books that are written to offend Shias and Sunnis would only help the US and Israeli cause against Muslims and the Islamic Revolution.

Τετάρτη, 17 Δεκεμβρίου 2008

Shares soared on Wall Street last night, but the dollar tumbled after the US Federal Reserve’s shock decision effectively to cut American official interest rates to zero. The Dow Jones industrial average jumped by more than 359.61 points, or 4.2 per cent, as markets hailed the US central bank’s landmark move to cut its key Fed Funds rate from a previous record low of 1 per cent to a target range of zero to 0.25 per cent. The broader-based S&P 500 index of US blue chip shares also surged by more than 5 per cent as investors cheered the Fed’s decision to combine last night’s historic cut in rates with a raft of other ground-breaking steps to combat the economic slump. The Fed fulfilled predictions that it would announce extraordinary moves to bolster America’s economy through so-called “quantitative easing”. It confirmed that it will buy up “large quantities” of mortgage-backed securities to try to ease the flow of lending to a slumping US housing market. In other steps designed to help to drive down commercial interest rates for businesses and consumers towards the near-zero level of official rates, the Fed promised to maintain this for a prolonged period, and that it would look at buying up US Treasury bonds. Expectations that the Fed would go beyond simply cutting its official rates still more yesterday had mounted since these rates are, in practice, only a target for the cost at which US banks can borrow from each other overnight through the central bank. The true cost of this borrowing had in reality already fallen in the past ten days to as little as 0.14 per cent. In its efforts to jump-start the US economy, the Fed is now more concerned with lowering borrowing costs more widely. Its announcements had an instant effect in bond markets, with prices for US Treasuries rallying sharply and sending yields — market interest rates — tumbling to record lows. Yields on benchmark ten-year Treasury notes fell to just 2.26 per cent, the lowest since 1951, while those on the 30-year Treasury bond fell to a record 2.74 per cent. Analysts said the central bank had now fired all its shots. David Ader, of RBS Greenwich Capital, said: “This is the lowest the target rate has ever been. Full stop. End of story. It’s an amazing event, really. This is it. They’ve just ended what the Fed can do here. Monetary policy for this cycle is completed.” The International Monetary Fund renewed warnings that governments across the West need to do much more to avoid global recession. “There needs to be a comprehensive and broader approach that goes beyond simply the Fed to produce success here,” John Lipsky, the IMF’s first deputy managing director, said. That view was challenged, however, by David McCormick, the US Treasury Under-Secretary, who said: “Co-ordinated actions . . . have decreased the chances of systemic collapse that appeared all too possible several months ago.” On currency markets, the dollar sagged against both the euro and sterling. It fell by as much as 2 per cent against the single currency, which surged back above $1.40, to $1.4052. The pound was also driven up by almost 3 cents from its earlier close in London to reach $1.5578 last night.

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OPEC panics over price scare. OPEC has announced a cut in production of 2.2 million barrels a day from next year to try to boost oil prices. It is the largest single reduction made by the oil cartel in its history. The move is aimed at stemming crude prices that has fallen below $US 50 per barrel from the summer record of $US 150.OPEC President Chakib Khelil told journalists that the reduction was necessary as "we are in a very, very deteriorating environment". He urged other oil-producing countries to follow the example of the key exporters to maintain the world market stability. OPEC countries, that control about 40 percent of all oil production, have been meeting in Algeria with the backdrop of the global recession sending prices into free-fall. Russia, which isn't an OPEC member, is expected to curb output by up to 320 thousand barrels a day to try to reverse the price slump. Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin says Russia's involvement in OPEC could range from being granted observer status, to full membership.

They have been found guilty by the Court of Appeal of Thessaloniki and 8 policemen involved in the case of Cypriot student beaten ( FOTO and VIDEO), Demetrios Augustinos 17 November 2006. The 4 of the 8 designated as physical perpetrators, were sentenced to a prison term of three years for the crime of dangerous bodily harm. Among them a sergeant accused of insulting and who also was sentenced to imprisonment of three months.The penalty is EUR 5 redeemable per day and were let FREE..

The VICTIM

So.. with 5 euro per day .. thats all , you can beat , kick even kill.. if you are Policeman in Greece..